INTERNATIONAL • ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

Israel documents sexual violence committed during

Hamas attack
Since October 7, women have stepped forward to share their stories, but the chaotic nature of
the massacre makes the investigation of sexual crimes difficult.

(Jerusalem, correspondent)
By Samuel Forey
Published on December 8, 2023, at 8:30 pm (Paris), updated on December 8, 2023, at
9:54 pm • 6 min.

Subscribers only

Lawyer Yael Vias Gvirsman, who represents 56 victims of the October 7 Hamas attack,
in Tel Aviv on December 7 LUCIEN LUNG/RIVA PRESS FOR LE MONDE

When the mostly naked body of Shani Louk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli attending the Nova
electronic music festival, was loaded onto the back of a pick-up truck and paraded through the streets
of Gaza, the act was filmed and broadcast in the early moments of Hamas's attack on Israel on
October 7. It was perhaps, without Hamas yet realizing it, one of the first pieces of documentation
attesting to the sexual violence committed that day. Louk's mother confirmed the young woman's
death on October 30.
 Louk's relatives are among the 56 families of victims and hostages represented by Israeli lawyer Yael
Vias Gvirsman before the French and German courts and the International Criminal Court (ICC). The
atrocities of October 7, she said, constitute a "systematic and deliberate attack against a civilian
population, with acts of murder, torture and mutilation against vulnerable people, the elderly, young
children and babies."

The lawyer has filed a report with the ICC for sexual violence against Louk. "For the other victims, it's
still too early. We know that living witnesses are emerging and will continue to do so. I'm getting
indications from soldiers who want to talk about what they know, including rapes," she added.

Read more ICC prosecutor's cautious approach to Israel and Gaza under scrutiny

Such complaints could become part of the ICC's years-long efforts to gain a better understanding of
the phenomenon of sexual violence in wartime, which is not limited to rape. "It's crucial to
understand all forms of sexual violence, such as forced nudity. We are cataloging all the cases that
could be dealt with by the ICC. As for documenting them, it's difficult. For one known case, there may
be 10 unknown ones, or even more," said Alix Vuillemin, executive director of the organization
Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ). Sexual violence in wartime has not yet been fully
defined, but it can include acts such as genital mutilation, humiliation, the desecration of corpses and
photos distributed without consent.

'Completely broken pelvis'

Israeli organizations set up in the aftermath of the October 7 attack, other NGOs, and the Israeli
government are trying to gather as much information on such crimes as possible. It is a difficult task.
The scale of the attack, the ensuing fighting, and the hasty collection and burial of bodies have
prevented proper documentation of the violence committed by Hamas. In several cases, forensic
analysis could not be carried out due to the condition of the corpses, many of which were burnt.

But clues are emerging. In a Knesset hearing organized on December 4 by the Committee for the
Advancement of Women & Gender Equality, Shlomit Landes, a deputy commissioner in the Israeli
police, said: "Women have been sexually assaulted. We saw bodies hit on the head, in the center of the
face and in sensitive places." Rami Shmuel, one of the Nova festival organizers, was quoted in a report
by the Israeli organization Physicians for Human Rights, saying: "We found naked women, they were
stripped, and their legs spread wide open."
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